cnnmoney.com. your choice, right, for financial news. and there s the lead story there, goldman pay in percent, cut to 272,581. probably million. i don t know. but there it is. your choice of financial news, cnnmoney.com. we are three hours into the trading day, just past. we are still in negative territory. down 86 points, at last check. the nasdaq was off by 17. plans to build annis lack i didn t mean community center in mosque, two blogs from 9/11 s ground zero still really up in the air right now a group that opposes the center has produced an ad that some say is inflamtory and in bad taste. cnn s senior correspondent, allen chernoff, spoke with the man behind the message. reporter: nbc and cbs turned down this ad opposing a mosque near ground zero. and to celebrate that murder of 3,000 americans, they want to build a monstrous 13-story mosque at ground zero.
reporter: all right. well, tony, right now we are circling around the vessel that rob marciano is riding on. and he is on the command vessel that is commanding all these simmers, so what we re doing up here about 500 feet above the gulf of mexico is looking out for any oil slicks, damaged boons or injured wildlife. fortunately, we haven t seen any of those yet so far. i think the biggest thing that has surprised our crew is that we are seeing people swimming off the beaches of the coast gulf of mexico, and there is a warning warning them not to enter the water. and in addition to that, i m looking over at this beautiful white sand beach that is virtually free of tourists, and in addition to that, we re also seeing some bp employees taking tractors across the sand, just skimming up any possible tar balls or anything like that. but above all, tony, it s been a pretty event-free day from up
reporter: yeah, you know, something, tony, it has hurt in two ways. one, many, many of the restauranteurs down here who specialize in seafood are very frustrated they can t get the gulf seafood they want. most have gone to some kind of secondary supplier, an off shore person, somebody else. they ll get something to replace it. and their plan, all of them say, is to simply say as soon as they can get the gulf seafood again, which is just spectacular food, if you ve ever had it, that they re going back to that as soon as they can. but the second thing they re trying to get out, literally, is reflected by things like a sandwich like this. they want people to know that they are in business here, they re still serving great food. and the gulf food that they serve is as good as it ever was, as safe as it ever was, and that s all they ll serve. they want to get that message out, because they know that that is critical to building up this area again, in the wake of katrina and in the wake of
tracking oil by air and sea. day 92 in the disaster in the gulf. we are giving you an exclusive tag team look at the skimmers in the water. amber lyon joins us from aboard a blimp over the gulf of mexico. this is a unique vantage point. amber, if you would, describe what you are seeing. this is amazing. reporter: tony, we are about 500 feet above mexico. that beach is gulf shores, alabama. the coast guard is calling this blimp the newest tool in the toolbox of the oil cleanup because this blimp as we are doing now, dpliding over the water. it s able to fly at low alt t d altitudes, and you are right now taking a look at boom. i am going to have chris look at the damaged part of the boom.
beach. another thing we noticed on this flight that surprised our lieutenant, tony, who was talking to us earlier, is just how empty the beach is. see all of these lawn chairs and umbrellas normally filled with families taking a summer vacation just empty. another thing that surprised us, too, people in the water. there is a warning out right now warning people not to enter the water because they just don t know how safe it is. in fact, our crew here on board has seen schools of sharks in the area that are chasing bait fish that are fleeing the oil and coming close to shore. earlier, tony, you told me there is oil that people getting into the water can t see but you can see. [ inaudible ] i want to stay with it for just a second longer. is it just gone for now? okay. all right. if we get amber back, just give me a heads up.